I am DADDY!

Ace had fun pretending to be DADDY the other day by helping MAX PUT ON HIS DIAPERS! Hahaha...

Not a very good fit.. but a very good try I'd say! ;) Hahaha..

Previous Post: This BOTAK is Papa!

This BOTAK is Papa!

Ace is quite good with origami now and rather enjoys them :) He has since learnt how to fold cats, fishes, flowers, rockets.. etc.

Usually he is asked to paste them onto paper and design a background for it as homework.

So we brought his two rockets home and pasted it on paper...

He said he wanted to draw people inside the rockets and for one rocket, he wanted to draw :"Ace!" And to help us recognize it is Ace, he added three strands of hair at the top.

In the other rocket, he wanted to draw Papa. As he drew the big, round circle (which was meant to be Daddy's head), he told me, "This botak is PAPA!"

Hahahahaha...

The other day we were in the car and discussing about whether to cut Ace's hair shorter and then Daddy asked him if he wanted to be like Daddy and be Botak. "No, I want to be more handsome." Ace replied.

"Who told you that Botak is not handsome?" Max asked him.

"Mummy lor..." Ace replied.

Oops.. hehehe..

"But Ace, Daddy still very handsome even though he is botak.." I remind him..

Still, he insists, "I want to be more handsome..."

Previous Post: Nanoboy!

Nanoboy!

You know, one of my mentors told me before that 人是追求快乐，逃离痛苦的动物. That means that humans either chase after happiness or run away from pain.

We are usually both but you tend to prefer one over the other. Ace is definitely a chase after happiness type of guy.

A week before, Ace's Gandie Zhiguang had a roadshow at the bookfair and his company, Scrawl Studios, has some stage show to promote their new cartoon series, NANOBOY.

Gandie still passed us some NANOBOY stickers and Ace loved it so much that he promptly pasted on his bed. So for the past one week, the reward of watching NANOBOY was used to entice and motivate him to do everything from keeping toys, to wearing his shoes by himself, to finishing his dinner to going to school.. you name it, we've used it. (Sorry, Zhiguang, we've abused your creation...)

Finally, it was saturday. Finally, Ace finished his right brain training lesson. Finally, Ace finished his lunch.

"Are we watching Nano boy now?"Ace asked.

Because we were way too early, we told him we had to wait somemore and so he got upset and went into tantrum.. kept wanting Daddy to carry him. We walked around the Anime Fiesta nearby and saw lots of interesting costumes and finally, it was time for Nanoboy!

While we were walking back from Carrefour toward the convention center, every 3-5 steps, Ace would ask me, "Are we going to watch Nanoboy now?" "We go and watch Nano boy ah?" "我们去看Nanoboy啊?"

I nearly fainted!

(You can view more pics of the event HERE)

Anyway, Ace took part in the contest and a question correctly:) It surprised me cos in the past, he wouldnt have put up his hand to want to answer the question but he did! :) And he shouted out the answer loud and clear into the mike! I wish I could take a picture of that moment ;)

Anway, he won a free Nanoboy poster and some more stickers! No prizes for guessing where the stickers went to... YES, his bed..

As for the poster, he just kept bugging me to paste it on the cupboard at the doorway so that the first thing he sees when he goes into his room is NANOBOY! :) hahaha...

After all the excitement, it seemed that he didn't really want it to end. After the event, we were deciding whether to go for tea and he told us, "I am not tired..." but by the time we reached the cafe, he was totally knocked out! hahahah....

Previous Post: I Not Feeling Well

I Not Feeling Well

It started off with me falling sick.

For some unknown reason, I felt really sick.. It could be a healing crisis and also could be just me not taking good care of myself. I started to feel a pain in my throat, blocked nose and worse of all, a aching around my lymph nodes and my face... everyday, I would feel slightly feverish and my lymph nodes felt so swollen that the swelling was affecting my headache and my eyes.

Everyday, I felt like my head is constantly aching and it is going to like split open anytime soon with a great big "BANG" and my eyes felt so swollen and painful they were like going to pop out of my head anytime soon.

It didn't feel good when I was sleeping yet if I did not sleep, the pain is worse.. so for a few days, I had Max bring Ace to my mum's place while I rested at home and did NOTHING.

Afraid that Ace might feel left out or upset at that arrangement, I told him that I was not feeling well and that I am sick, that is why I cannot spend so much time with him because I don't want to make him sick as well.

A few days later, just when I got better, Ace started coughing a little bit. "Shucks! I still passed it to him in the end!" I thought to myself.

When we picked him up from school, as usual, I asked him how was his day. "I not feeling well, I am sick..." he replied.

"Oh really? That's too bad... then we cannot bring you out and you cannot go mac donalds this weekend..."

Upon hearing that, Ace changed his tune. "我没有咳嗽。我好了!" And he never tried to say he is sick again.

But his cough took a turn for the worse after we brought him to mac donalds and he drank the apple juice there. And come monday, he refused to wake up despite much cajoling.

"I don't want to go to school..." and Ace hid his head behind the big bolster.

When his dad asked him why he doesn't want to go to school, he said, "I am not feeling well. I am sick. I cannot go to school...."

I asked him who said that he is sick and cannot go to school. "Teacher Toh says I am sick and I cannot go to school."

"Really? Oh, but you are going to discovery center this weekend. If you are sick and cannot go to school, then you cannot go discovery center lor... If you are a good boy, we bring you go and watch Gandie Zhiguang's Nano boy..."

And with that, he decided to wake and go to school anyway. Wah lau, I also din know how to pretend to be sick to skip school till I was 18. My son 3.5 years old can do tat....

So when I went to pick Ace up the other day, I checked with Teacher Toh about what happened. Apparently, she did tell them that they will not be able to come to school if they are sick when she encourages them to drink more water so that they will be healthy.

But the cough did not seem to get better no matter what I fed him and what I did to him. The next day, it got so bad that when Daddy woke up, he decided to take child sick leave to bring Ace to the doctor. But Ace started crying real bad.

So I went to pacify him.

"Why are you crying, Ace?"

"I don't want to go see doctor..." and he continued to cry as big tear drops start flowing down his face.

"Why?"

"I scared scared..." and he continued to cry. "I don't want to 打针... I want to drink 奶奶凉水because then my cough will get better...."

So I pacified him and told him it is ok. The doctor will not give him an injection.. blah blah blah.. only to find out later that Daddy was the one who told him that if his cough does not get better, he will have to bring him to a doctor and the doctor will give him an injection.

The end result, he did not go to the doctor but was happy to do EVERYTHING we said.

He even allowed me to apply VICKS (which he detests the most) on his feet and his chest before he slept because I told him that his cough will get better if I apply VICKS on his chest and his feet. Usually he will scream and shout if I apply VICKS on him and because of that, we even use VICKS as a deterrant for him to put anything near his mouth by telling him that if he does that, we will apply vicks on his mouth.

Anyway, after two days of 爱心凉水 from Nai Nai, Vicks, Pi pa Gao, LOADS of VP and Chloreanna and not forgetting to mention loves of tender loving care from Daddy, Mummy, Waipo, Waigong.. etc, he is now much better ;)

Previous Post: Achievement

Achievement

Ace is really growing up.. he is starting to understand recognition and even have a sense of achievement when he manages to do certain things.

If he has done something well and we forget to praise him, he will remind us... "Mummy, I so clever leh..."

The other day, he said something that kind of surprised me and let me really understand that he is really starting to understand what is achievement and a sense of recognition.

You see, since Ace was about 1.5 years old, he has been going for right brain training lessons. During his lessons, there is a segment on memory games. The teacher will show the children pictures of 4 objects in a particular order. First for 30 seconds, then 10 seconds, then 2 seconds.. and afterward, the children will have to rearrange the pictures of these objects in the correct order as seen.

When Ace started out, he was quite good at it. He gets at least half of them right at least half the time.

Then for some unknown reason, his brain started to reject this activity. For the longest time, he does not even want to place the picture cards in the correct location. He is just plain not interested.

After a month of cajoling, he started to place them in.. but he would anyhow place and always get ALL WRONG.

Then he changed school and this did not seem to change. It went one step furthur with Ace insisting that he does not want to follow the teacher's answer sheet and he wants them in HIS WAY, HIS OWN ORDER and he insists that HIS WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY.. (so young, already so much control..)

This very patient and 随便mummy just let him be lor.

Then all of a sudden, last week, he like suddenly GOT IT and 开窍 like that. Without my saying ANYTHING, he just paid alot of attention to teacher's cards for that 30 seconds.. and then afterward when he was putting the cards in the right order, you could really see him contemplating, remembering and using all his focus....

I asked him, when he was done, "Is this the same as Jin Sensei's pictures?"

"Yes!" He told me very confidently.

Once Jin Sensei flashed out the cards, within 1 second, he realized that he got all right and he told me, "Yeah! I got all right!"

I was really shocked because firstly, he could tell he had all right within a second.. (I usually had problem even asking him to put it back into the correct position when the answer key is shown) Secondly, I also not aware he had all right until he shouted that and I double checked again.. and mostly it was because i could feel his happiness at accomplishing this task.

But the next 10 second one.. he got distracted by a crying classmate beside him and got it all wrong.

And for the 2 second one, he got it all right again! I very amazed lor!

And if I must add, I am very happy.. JIA YOU, Ace!

Previous Post: See You Later

See You Later

First, updates about his sprain. I called his school at 3pm or so yesterday. Teacher says that he is ok. Can eat, can play and has been using his injured hand. When he reached home, his hand was back to normal. Can play with toys, can shake hands and it has totally recovered!:)

Ace is super cheeky now lor...

In the morning when he leaves for school, he will wave bye bye and tell me, "See you later, alligator!"


And sometimes and we are just talking cock and chatting, he will tell me that he is the baby alligator, Daddy is PAPA alligator...


"So what am I?" I asked him.. expecting him to tell me I am MUMMY alligator..


"You... you are OLD alligator because you are OLDER than me..."


Wah piangz!


PS: That was written some time ago, he has since progressed to calling himself Master Guigui (after Master Wu Gui from Kungu Panda. According to Ace, he is Master Ace Gui Gui, his mummy is Master Snake and make a guess who daddy is? Yes, Daddy is Kungfu Panda!


Max wonders why he is different. Most children would want to be Kungfu Panda, the main character, right? I guess Ace values being WISE and SPIRITUAL bah....


Previous Post: Ace's Sprain

Ace's Sprain

Okie, this mummy made a mistake. Sorry, Ace!

This little boy really sprained his wrist somewhat... His teacher called me at around 3 plus in the afternoon on Monday and said that Ace kept holding on to his hand and when they pressed it and asked him if it was painful for him, he said no. But if they tried to turn it round and round, he would give and expression of pain even though he does not cry or he would call out, "pain, pain, pain..."

His teacher says that children don't lie about such things. Perhaps because I havent been the most honest child on earth, I guess I projected my lack of integrity on my son and thought that he had been faking it.. even at 3.5 years old.

But well, what has happened, has happened. I forgive Ace and I forgive myself.

Anyway, Max brought him home early and we couldn't really decide what to do to him. Sometimes when you twirl his wrist, he says it is painful. Sometimes he says it isn't. And the whole arm was a little tender and swollen. But other than that, he was laughing and happy all the way. Just that he kept using his good hand to hold the wrist of his injured hand.

If we brought him to a Chinese Sinseh, i was afraid they might pull too hard and cause him more pain and I have heard of them giving the wrong diagnosis and thus the wrong treatment before.. if we bring him to a doctor, I am also afraid of the same thing would happen.. So since Daddy used to be from St Johns and is more experienced when it comes to injuries, I decided to listen to him.

Our verdict- do nothing. From his symptoms and from the way it happened, my guess is that it is a mild sprain. So first day sure will be very painful one. Second day will be ok already. Daddy says even if we brought him to the doctor the doctor would very probably give some painkiller.. they wouldn't be able to do anything.

That's what they said on the internet as well. I emailed a fellow parent from the US who mentioned in her blog that her son has the same injury and asked her for advice and she very promptly replied. Very grateful to her.... She said to bring him to a doctor if he doesn't get better after observation... cos usually the doctor will just give some medication and charge you money. There is nothing they can do.

So leh, we let Ace watched TV and while he is engrossed in the TV, we would massage his hand (Daddy says the way to let him get well is to massage his hand) and I noticed that everytime he is watching TV, he doesn't complain so much of pain. Once his attention is not there anymore, any small action we do to his hand, he shouts "Pain, pain, pain!" and cries.

I guess it is probably really slightly painful. But in this case, the psychological factor I feel, outweighs the physiological factor. His pain does not seem to be consistent and I noticed that whenever he lies down for a while and suddenly sits up, I think due to the rush of the flow of blood, he will feel pain and cry abit.

Anyway, we sort of cheered him up with a Panda Biscuit, fed him some dinner and played with him for a while (He even wanted to play LEGO with one hand) and then we put him to sleep. I also put my hand on his wrist and told him I am sending him love.

Given that it was a special circumstance, we decided to let him sleep on the Kiko Bed. But just so that he would not try to break his hand just to sleep in our bed, we told him to sleep in our bed because our bed gives out Far Infrared and Negative ions.. helps to rejuevenate cells and heal them faster I feel.. but I also told him it is a special treat because Daddy wants to go and watch soccer tonight.

Before he slept, I fed him one N-ma (which has lots of Astaxanthin that helps improve muscle strength and helped me prevent muscle ache after strenuous exercise during Women's Day Out).

Nainai and Popo kept calling to ask how he was but he was not in a good mood and did not want to talk to them.

Alas, while he was asleep, he kept holding on to his injured wrist.

Every now and then, he would call out in his sleep, "Mummy, mummy...." only to quieten down after a while when I snuggle closer to him to let him feel my presence. After about an hour, I realized that somehow, his pee, for some unknown reason, squirted out from his diapers onto his top.

Headache ah! The pee was wet and smelly but how to change him out of his clothes without him making any noise.. he virtually refused to move his hand at all and plus, he was already sleeping!

Boh pian lor.. use force lor... luckily the shirt was a big one and so it was easy to take out one arm and the head before sliding the shirt down the injured arm. When I did that, Ace started crying. He was crying real loud with tears in his eyes. So I had another problem... how do I help him put on a shirt?

In the end, I took out the only comfy shirt with buttons down the front row that he has.. the one that his school used for his Kukabara dance and tried to put it on for him. Even though he din have to move his hands much when I put it on, he still cried and cried.

After I manage to get him to sleep, about 5 min later, "Mummy, mummy.." He was pulling at his pants. Seems that that was wet as well and so I had to change for him again.

After a few more times of whining and call ing out for me, he finally settled in and started sleeping.

The next morning, he woke up pressing on his wrist and kept giving me an M-shaped mouth expression. After some discussion, we decided to keep him at home for one day to recuperate.

The whole morning, he was holding on to his wrist and giving me a very pitiful look. All of a sudden at 11 plus in the morning while we were watching TV together, he jumped up from we were sitting and told me, "Mama. 我的手好了!"

Previously, he would let his hand lie straight and let it hang loose like it really had no use like that. It seemed as if he his hand is totally useless and he acts like that hand is 残废. Rather, he sorts of behaves like the single armed swordsman.

So when he walks, he wobbles because that hand is perpetually straight and hanging and cannot help him balance at all.

After he declared that his hand has recovered, it is at least not hanging loose and straight by the side but swinging along to help him gain balance. And when he is playing, sometimes when he forgets, he will even use the injured hand a little bit but always with the good hand supporting it. He even attempted to play badminton with me!

Anyway, his teachers were so nice, they even called to ask after him in the afternoon.

By night time, his hand was quite ok. We can twirl it anyway we like without pain and he only feels pain if we flex his palm 90 degrees to his arm either up or down and there was still a slight swelling and Daddy says it is because he did not use that arm much and that is why there is alot of fluid retained there.

I told Ace to look at his arms and asked him if he noticed the swelling. I told him it was swelling because he is not using his hand. So he wouldn't be able to recover quickly if that is the case. Then I reminded him that if he recovered, he can go swimming and do other fun things like going to the playground to play. Also, if he does not recover by tommorrow morning, daddy will have to bring him to a doctor and they might give him an injection.

So he started to complain less when we asked him to use his injured arm and is alot happier to let us massage it. Daddy was very goood help in this aspect as he keeps taking effort to entertain Ace and make him happy so that he can massage his hand. On my hand, I tried to play games with him to encourage him to use two hands.. I also use milk to entice him by telling him I will give him his milk if he holds with two hands.

I also put my hand in his wrist to send alot of love to him. I think it does make him feel better because every now and then, he asks me to send love to his wrist. Even before he sleeps, he wants me to hold his wrist and send love to him. So I fell asleep in his room sending love to him..

Anyway, I am pleased to announce that as of this morning, Ace can now lift his arms and put on or take off t-shirts without any pain, he can use his injured hand to shake hands with me and daddy (even though he insists on using the other hand to support it cos he acts like that hand cannot bend at the arm and be lifted up without help) and the ultimate test came when he brushed his teeth by himself with BOTH HANDS! Initially it looked like it took alot of effort to lift his injured arm up and it looked like his hand was in some awkward position but after a while, he too, realized that it was not painful and he started to use that hand to brush his teeth properly. I was soooooo happy!

Previous Post: My Hand Pain Pain

My Hand Pain Pain

I sometimes hate it when we have had a fantastic weekend. That's because Ace would start wishing that the weekend never ended and he would throw a tantrum when it is time to go to school because he doesn't want to go to school, he wants to continue to have lots of fun with me and Daddy...

This monday morning was one such morning and while getting him to sit up to put on his shirt after his bath, I pulled him up by gripping on his arm.. not his wrists.. but his arm.. and very gently too..

Suddenly, his mouth started to go into an M shape and he started to cry... "My hand pain pain.. my hand pain pain.. " he repeated and started to cry and make a big fuss. I kissed his hand and asked him to put on his shirt but he kept saying that his hand was very painful and that he could not put his arm into his shirt's armhole..

And then just when he quieten down and thought that enough is enough, his dad came home with breakfast and he went to do a round two of "My hand pain pain.. my hand pain pain.. " to his dad. And afterward, he kept saying his hand was painful and kept crying and kept acting like his arm was a totally useless arm...

Just to entertain him and make him shut up, his dad massaged his arm and blew him kisses. "Where is the pain?" I asked him and I noticed he kept pointing to different places on his arm... not only was it not consistent, the points he pointed to were really quite far apart....

Also, when you teased him abit, he seemed to have no problem playing with you with the other arm...

"Can i have a plaster?" He asked. Me and daddy smiled knowingly to each other and took out a plaster and pasted on his arm. "Do you feel better now?" I asked him. "Yes..."

Pls lor.. where got plaster make arm sprain feel better one lor!? Think his mummy stupid or wat...

So I let him be and I fed him some breakfast and sat down to watch Sesame Street together with him...

After a while when I sensed he was in better mood, I told him. "Ace, I know that you did not hurt your hand. I know that it is not painful at all. But I went along with you because I wanted to see what you will do. Remember, Mummy always knows when you are not telling the truth... firstly, I want to tell you that whether your hand is painful or not, I will love you. I will also play with you and pay attention to you even if your hand is well. You just need to ask me..."

"Secondly, if you tell me your hand is painful but it is not, that means you are not honest. Mummy don't like it when you lie. I like it when you are a honest boy because it is important to be truthful and honest about things even when it is not so easy to do so..."

"I also do not like it when you throw a tantrum and keep crying. I like it when Ace is a happy boy. If you are sad or hurt, it is ok to cry. It is NOT ok to cry when you are just trying to get attention. All you need to do is to tell us and we will give you all the attention and love you want... ok? Can you don't do it again?"

He kept quiet and hooked my finger as a promise not to do it again...

"So remember your promise ok?" And all of a sudden, while he had been sullenly watching sesame street with his hand on the 'hurt arm', he suddenly used his usual happy voice and asked me lots of questions about the characters in sesame street.. as if to change topic...

Hai, 人小鬼大....

Post Script: His teacher called at around 3pm in the afternoon and said that he kept complaining that his hand is painful. It is not painful when they press his hand but if they turn it, he winces but does not cry. Says he is a brave boy but we better bring him to a doctor.. Dr Chua AKA Max brought him home early and I think he really sprained it. Cos it is a little bit swollen.

Liverpool's Youngest Star, Ace Chua!

The other day, Max promised to bring Ace out for a soccer game and because we couldn't make it in time to go mac donalds for breakfast on saturday, we asked him if we could go on sunday instead before the soccer game and he said YES.

He was in good mood that day and just before we left, he promptly posed for some photos.

At mac, he still in good mood and when I said I wanted to take picture of him.. he promptly posed for photos everytime i said cheese and he could even come up with his own pose.. like model like that..

Then he said he wanted a balloon and so Daddy asked him to go and get a balloon himself. "You go over there to the aunty who is wearing spectacles and a cap and then you say loudly to the aunty 'Can I have a balloon please?'. Go and get what you want.. try..."

So Ace walked toward the aunty but she was engaged with other duties like refilling stuff and answering queries. And then, Ace started to ask her... she heard him but wanted to finish her work first and so she did not give him a balloon immediately.

A little bit upset and also impatient, Ace tried to walk back to our table only to look into a human sea and not remember were we were seated and so he started to cry.

So I went over and then brought him to the counter and asked him to ask for a balloon again.. and he is all smiles after that.

But Ace was quite whiny the whole day that day.

Afterward, we let him play a bit at the playground and he cried when he fell. He usually doesn't cry but merely declares to us that it is painful. He only cries if it is very painful but it did not seem as his fall was really very painful cos the moment i kissed his leg, he stopped already. I would suspect he was just trying to get some attention.

After that, we went to a grass patch and asked him to start his soccer game but he didn't want to. "I want to go inside.." he pointed to the Futsal court.

So we asked for permission to go in for a while but when we were at the door, he didn't wanted to go in and started crying again. "I scared scared..." he told me and I didn't really know what he was scared of.

After two or three kicks, he decided that he has had enough and then he declared, "I want to go home, Mummy. I want to go back to 422. I want to go back to my house."

But Daddy didn't even get warmed up yet and wanted to get him to start playing by teasing him and asking him to play monkey to try to get the ball so Ace 少爷started to throw a tantrum and cry again.

"Ace, don't cry. Do you want your ball? If you cry, will you get your ball? You keep your eyes on the goal and go for it. Don't give up. Go for the ball and get it if you want it.." I felt like some soccer coach giving a prep talk.

Finally, with some help from me and some relenting on Daddy's part (Daddy was in a tantrum as well), he got the ball and we went home. PHEW...

You can see more of that day's pics HERE.

Previous Post: TV Addict

TV Addict

The other day, I went into my room, came out and saw Ace in this position... that that brought back a slush of memories about the time when I was young :)


When I was very much younger, I was every bit as much of a TV addict as I am now :) I loved watching TV so much that during my night feed for milk, I would often time the speed I am drinking my milk to the timing of the show. I would time it such that the very last drop would go into my mouth.. just as Crocodile Tears started playing in the background.. which signified the end of the show..


I think that was the exact position that I was in when I was drinking milk while I enjoyed my TV:) hahaha


When I was pregnant, despite lots of well meaning advices from friends to:

1. Stay away from TV or your fetus will have lots of garbage in their sub conscious mind


2. Stay away from horror movies or shows which have relatively negative themes like violence, death, etc

I went ahead and watch LOTS OF DRAMAs with lots of gore, sad stories and rubbish...

After which when Ace was born, I felt soooooooooooooooooooooo guilty for being a bad mum.

I think when you have children, they don't just inherit your genes but also your hobbies and habits as well...


So I think.. Ace was a born TV addict...


Previous Post: I So Fast!

I So Fast!

There is a downside to Ace being more mobile and independent.


Now that he is capable of doing things like change, wear his shoes etc, he wants to do them himself.. and very often at his own speed.

The more you hurry him, it seems, the slower he will get.


And yet, he insists that you are not to help him.


The one that really gets on my nerves is packing his toys.


Now that he goes to school, he is trained and understands a need to pack up after he finishes with a game and I make it a point that he keeps the last game he plays before he gets to play the new game.


But leh, it gets on my nerves that the more you hurry him, the longer he takes. Add that to the fact that he likes to throw all the toys from the box all over the floor... something that makes your house look like it has just been through world war 3 or something... it aint very good for this mummy's patience.


Not only that, as he packs up.. with every single toy he picks up, he would play with it for another 5-10 min and he ends up taking 2 hours to pack the toys back when he could have done it within 3 min!


Sometimes when I have time, I let him be. After all, I understand he is exploring...


When I dun have the time, I would hurry him and end up making him SLOWER! I don't know if he is doing it to annoy me or what but experts tell me that hurrying our kid gives them more expectations and anxiety so it adds up to a viscious cycle and makes them slower...


But now I am clever. When he is slow.. I will start to pack the toys and tell him, "I am so fast.. I am so fast.. " And then I pack and pack and when I am done, I tell him, "I am so fast, I win!"


After a few times, I notice this is a much better way to motivate him to speed up because the moment I tell him, "I am so fast!" he starts to pick up speed and repeats "I am so fast!"


And most importantly, this is applicable not only to packing toys, putting on shoes, wearing his clothes and is even applicable to when he is walking too slowly... ;)

Previous Post: I Am Born!

I Am Born!

I was looking through my pictures together with Ace the other day and I came across my pregnant photos.. and so I asked Ace if he knew who that was.. "Mummy!" he said.

I asked him then if he knew what was inside my big tummy...

"Baby lor...." he said.

"Do you know who is the baby? It is Ace!"

Somehow, that got the idea that he came from my tummy into his little intelligent head.

From then on, he would often do the "我生出来了" (I am born) game and it goes like this.

He would tell me he wants to be a baby and ask me, "Can I go into your tummy?" then he will lift up my shirt and put his head inside my shirt where the tummy is and then after a while, his head pops out and he tells me, "我生出来了!" And then proceed to do baby talk...

And then I will cuddle him or pretend to make milk for him.

Sometimes, his daddy would entice him.. "I want to eat biscuits now. But babies cannot eat biscuits.. they only drink milk.. do you want to be a big boy or eat biscuits?"

"I am a big boy now!" he declares.

Anything for food I say! :)

Previous Post: I Don't Like You

I Don't Like You

Now that Ace is better at expressing himself.. he is also better at emotional blackmail.. yikes!


For example, if he is in a bad mood, if you do not give in to him, if you irritate him or if you make him angry or upset, he will say to you, "I don't want you. I don't like you!"


When he says that to Waipo or Waigong.. I will ask him... "Are you sure you don't want Waipo.. she loves you so much you know.. she takes care of you, she bathes you.. she buys jelly and biscuits for you.. she buys you toys and clothes, she tells you stories and do so many things for you.. are you sure you dun want Waipo?"


After a pause and he thinks things through, he would tell me, "I want Waipo..." And after that, he would be willing to apologize for his tantrum.


Now, the true challenge comes when the I-dun-like-"YOU" target is actually me. Somehow when that target is ME, it is not so easy to keep a cool and calm attitude and not react without emotion...


Sometimes when I can handle it better, I tell him, "But I want you and love you leh!" And then I hug him and tell him I am sorry I made him upset...


Sometimes when I can't, I automatically resort to guilt and threats. "Don't want me ah.. ok, bye bye..."


And then I ignore him.


And then after a while, he comes to me. "Mama, I want to eat biscuits..."


"But you don't want me right? Then you dun talk to me..."


And then he cries and says, "I want you, I want you..." And then with a smile hanging at the corner of my lips. I hug him with satisfaction. "See, he wants me!" goes this voice in my head.


Now that I think back, I find this sort of reaction and thinking silly and even childish... But I am no saint...and my teacher, Chuck, says that people who are called Angels are called so because they want to hide the 'devil' in them... hahaha...


But I guess writing and blogging about this makes me more aware of this ego reaction.. so I resolve to resolve the issue with love instead of fear and threats in future :)


Anyway, I read that most kids do go thru this phase, ESPECIALLY when they are secure. (Woohoo, Ace is secure!)


Young kids have to feel safe enough with their caregiver to test out how to express negative feelings, as well as positive feelings.


The child therapist who wrote that says she worries more about kids who don't express any anger or sadness!


Anyway, she suggested clarifying and guessing why they are angry.. (Are you mad that I won't let you eat the cookie?) and remind them that it's normal to feel angry and it is ok to tell others that you are angry.. but it is not ok to act out the anger by physically hitting, kicking or biting.


She says this will give us a chance to teach children a bigger "feelings vocabulary" and soon, our kids will be able to explain most of the time why they are angry or sad...


If we validate their feelings & fix the problem if possible. This will lead to a huge decrease in tantrums and to them expressing more positive feelings too. ;)


I learnt a good lesson here.. did you?

Previous Post: I Want To POOP!

I Want To POOP!

Went to my mum's place at day and found out at POOP training is not as successful as I though.

The other day, Ace was at my mum's place and suddenly, from inside the room, Ace shouted.. "Popo, can you help me?! Where is my diapers? I want to da bian!"

So my mum told him that he had to go poop in the toilet.

"No, I don't want, I don't want. I want to da bian in the diapers, I want to wear the diapers..." and then he sat on the floor, threw a tantrum and kicked his legs...

"Popo, help me quick, I want to da bian already!"

And my mum insisted that he had to go poop in the toilet.

"You don't help me, I wear the diapers myself!" declared Ace and he proceeded to take off his pants and tried to put on his diaper himself. Alas, he couldn't do it...

"Popo, please help me.. quick, my da bian is coming out!"

So my mum gave him and helped in put on his diaper.

The end result is that he pooped in the diaper again...

I wonder when he can consisitently poop in the toilet bowl...

Previous Post: Weddings Are Fun

Weddings Are Fun

Well, perhaps to Ace, weddings are really fun :)

He really had a great time and Linda and Yixing's wedding that day...

But that is the last time we will bring him to a wedding this year I think... Because he simply cannot sit still and is so picky about what he eats now... Max almost died trying to think of new ways to entertain him so that he will stay at ONE SPOT.

And then.. the funny thing is I met my long lost primary school classmate that day.. and she brought along two girls.. without me saying anything, he just went up to them and told them, "Hello, 美女！"

And then later, I met Xiao Feng and Tiffany, my long lost sunflower sister... who also has a little girl with her and Ace just gamely played with her and tried to hug and kiss her! :)

Everyone says he must have picked this up from Daddy and will turn out to be a great cassanova when he grows up.. hahaha ;)


Previous Post: You Fold Your Clothes, I Fold Mine

You Fold Your Clothes, I Fold Mine

Yipee!

Ace can finally help out with housework and do his won stuff!

He can now change in and out of his own clothes, put on his own shoes...

If you give him a magic clean mop, he even TRIES to clean the house a little...

Give him a rag and he tries to help with cleaning the table...

And the best part is that is able to help fold his own clothes after I wash them..

My only complain is that Ace changes in and out of his clothes too often.

If he is too warm, he wants to change into his sleeveless tops.. if his shirt is wet, he wants to change.. if he bathes, he wants to change.. if he is going out.. even just to go downstairs to buy something, he wants to change...

Luckily he helps to fold his clothes, if not, I think just washing and folding his clothes will make me super duper busy!

Previous Post: Shake Your Bom Bom

Shake Your Bom Bom

Ace loves to dance...

And because children of this age are now curious about their body, they will have tendency to want to be naked when they are playing.

A few weeks ago, Ace started going through this phase by taking off his clothes mid-play and making Waipo really angry.. hahaha ;) I laughed it off because I felt it was merely funny...

I merely reminded him that he might catch a cold if he did not put on his clothes and most importantly, while it is ok to play at home like that, it is rude to take off your clothes and show the world your bum bum and your penis.

"Your penis belongs to you. Other than you, and mummy and Daddy, you are not supposed to show it to anyone else.. not even if they ask you to show them.. ok?"

He said OK but just a few days later after that conversation, while we were watching some Thomas the Train music video on youtube, he started taking off his pants and shaking his bom bom when the chorus came on...

Once the song went back to the first stanza, he put on his pants again. Once the chorus came on, he pulled down his pants and started to shake his bom bom again....

I did not know whether to laugh or not to laugh... but i think it was hilarious ;) hahaha...

Previous Post: Because I love you

Because I love you

The other day, we were sitting in the car and I was feeling boh liao... So I just said, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

And Ace turned around and asked me, "Mummy, why you laugh?"

I told him I was not laughing. I was just making the "Ha Ha Ha" sound...

And then he thought to himself for a while and then he started to laugh out loud. "Hahaha!"

"Ace, why are you laughing?" I asked him.

"Because... because I love you lor!" he said...

I was so happy.. until I realized he could be mimicking this ad...



Nevertheless, I am STILL happy :) hahaha...

And about a week later, Daddy decided to bring him to East Coast to play soccer. He told me then that he wants to wear his liverpool outfit to play soccer. "Ace wear liverpool, daddy wear liverpool. Mummy wear liverpool."

"But mummy does not have a liverpool shirt, Ace.." I told him.

"Why?" He asked me.

"Well, because Daddy did not buy me one...." I told him.

"Nevermind!" He declared after thinking for 2 seconds. "Next time I make money I buy for you ok? Next time you grow up I buy for you!"

"Oh wow! That's very generous of you! So why do you want to buy Liverpool for me, Ace?"

"Because you love me lor..." He replied.

Ganma Karen insists that he will become a cassanova when he grows up. Zhiguang Gandie says, "3.5 years old knows how to score points already.. he good ah!"

Hahahahahaha....

Previous Post: Polite Ace

Polite Ace

Ace has a very strong opinion about what he wants to wear these days.. right down to the colour and design of his underwear... so most of the time if it isn't too much of a mismatch, he let him be and even before he dictates, I give him two choices to choose..

While going through his drawer, he found this pair of pants with a Snoopy design on it. He loved it and wanted to wear it even though it was still a tad too big for him.

Max bathed him and helped him change into his new clothes and then when I saw it, I told him that he is very handsome.

"Mama, 水买给我的？" he pointed to his pants.

I told him that Joven Gor Gor bought it for him when he went to Hong Kong a long time ago.

"Mama, can I say thank you to Joven gor gor?" he asked me.

"Of course you can. So how will you say thank you to him?"

"Thank you Joven gor gor, I love you!"

Wah... my son very polite leh!

Previous Post: Mummy, You Wake Up

Mummy, You Wake Up

Ace is a pretty good kid. Even though he likes to lie on bed and doesn't really wake up quickly and tends to laze in bed.. once he becomes awake, he is all smiles and doesn't sound grumpy or angry at all.

And because me and Daddy don't like it when people suddenly wake us, we have a variety of ways to wake Ace up gently...

First we will off the fan so that the room is a little bit warm.. and then we will draw the curtains so that more light falls into the room.. then I will gently shake him and tell him, "Ace, wake up, time to go to school.."

Sometimes I will kiss him on the cheek and sometimes daddy will rub his palm over Ace's face.

Sometimes I just tease him. "起来了，太阳晒到屁股了!"

Well, Ace has his own way of waking me up as well....

Yesterday, I was taking a power nap before going for my next appt. My son came into the room to wake me to go off to the next appt.

"Mama, 起来了..." and he started to pull my hand. "快点起来换衣服。你看，我换衣服了。我“哇! 美美”了，你快点起来换衣服我“哇! 美美”你。你看我换衣服帅帅了。" (Mama, wake up, come change out of your clothes. You see, I have already changed into my going out clothes and am "wah.. so pretty" now. You wake up quick and change into your going out clothes and I can "wah.. so pretty" you... see, I am so handsome now..)

And then he proceeded to pull my feet till they touched the ground and pull my hand till I finally sat up on bed.

Today, Ace woke up at 7plus and because he already pooped, even though I was darn tired, I had no choice but to wake up and bath him and because he was already awake, I didn't dare to go back to bed lest he starts to do strange things in the house...

When Max woke up, I was so happy cos now he can take over and I can go catch up on my sleep again.

But after napping for about half an hour, my son came into my room and pulled my hand. "Mama, wake up already. Don't sleep already, come out and watch tv with me. Mama.. quick, you wake up.. you see.. there is light coming out from the sky already..."

Did he mean "the sun is up"? Hahahaha...

PS: I wrote this like some time ago.. recent developments in Ace's sleep pattern.. he has taken to being grumpy in the morning when we try to wake him. Grumpy initially but he will still in the end break out into laughter after some tickling...

One of our favourite games is "Tickle Mummy/Ace, see whether he will wake up or not.." I played this with him that day and the next two days, he would wake and come to me to tickle me to wake me up.

But the most POWER thing that happened was yesterday, Ace wanted to sleep in and wake up later. I told him he had to wake up to go to school. "Which school are we going?"He asked.

"Kinderland lor." I told him. And then he rolled himself into a ball and told me. "I don't want to go to school..." And when his daddy asked him why, he said, "*cough* I am not feeling well, I cannot go to school because I am sick..."

3.5 years old????????????????????????????????

Previous post: Hungry Boy